Maddux lasted only five innings on a steamy afternoon, turning a 5-3
lead over to the bullpen. He has yet to win in four starts at Great
American Ball Park, where he has an 8.14 ERA.

He ran the bases twice -- on an RBI single and while vainly trying to
beat out his double-play grounder. By the end of the fifth, he was spent.

"I don't know what did it," Maddux said. "I just didn't feel right. I
started seeing those little white things. It kind of spooked me a little
bit."

Maddux struck out four, leaving him two shy of becoming the 13th pitcher
to reach the 3,000 mark. He will try again next week at Wrigley Field.

Novoa pitched out of a bases-loaded, none-out threat in the seventh to
preserve a 5-4 lead, with center fielder Jerry
Hairston making a diving catch on Aurilia's sinking liner to
end the inning.

The Reds rallied in the eighth on a hit, a walk and Novoa's balk, then
loaded the bases again with two outs. Kearns, who spent the last six
weeks with Triple-A Louisville losing weight and fine-tuning his swing,
singled off Ryan Dempster for the
go-ahead runs.

Kearns returned to Cincinnati on Wednesday night, too late to get into
the game. He batted cleanup Thursday and went 3-for-5 with the most
important hit.

"I'm not out for personal issues or to prove people wrong," said Kearns,
who wasn't happy with the demotion. "In the past I've tried to do that,
and it made it that much harder; I tried to do too much. I learned to
relax in Louisville and was reminded that it's a game. It's nice to get
off to a good start."

Aurilia completed the eighth-inning rally with another two-run single
off Dempster, the fifth Cubs pitcher. Brian
Shackelford (1-0) pitched the eighth for his first major league
win.

Running the bases on a humid, 85-degree afternoon sapped Maddux, who
went eight innings in each of his last two starts. He gave up Aurilia's
solo homer and Valentin's two-run shot.

"You've got to try to keep it in the park here, and I didn't do it very
well," Maddux said. "But at least I left some guys on base."

Todd Walker's three-run homer off left-hander Eric Milton put the Cubs up 5-1 in the fourth, but they couldn't hold
on against the majors' best comeback team. It was the 14th time the Reds
have won by overcoming a deficit of at least three runs, best in the
majors.

The NL's top power teams spent the series taking advantage of the
majors' most homer-friendly park. More have been hit at Great American
than anyplace else.

Aramis Ramirez hit his 25th homer in the ninth for Chicago,
which hit 11 in the series to Cincinnati's seven. The Reds have 128
overall this season, two more than the Cubs.

Chicago's problem all series long was stranding runners. The Cubs left
nine on base Thursday, four of them in scoring position.

"It is frustrating," manager Dusty Baker said. "They took that game from
us. We were hoping that Greg could have gone longer, but he was out of
gas after running the bases a couple of times. We had to go to the
bullpen a little bit earlier than we wanted to, so our bullpen was
really spent today."

The focus was on Maddux, who got his first big league win in Cincinnati
in 1986 against the team he rooted for as a boy. He got a quick start
toward the strikeout mark, fanning leadoff batter Ryan Freel on three pitches. He got two more strikeouts in the
second, leaving him halfway there.

After that, the four-time Cy Young winner had a more important thing on
his mind -- keeping cool. Once the dots appeared, he was done.

Notes

Maddux is 19-15 against the Reds.

C Michael Barrett extended his hitting streak to eight games.

The Reds sent reliever Ben Weber to Class-A Dayton to start a
medical rehabilitation assignment. The right-hander has been on the DL
since May 9 with a bulging disc in his neck.

Milton has given up 30 homers, most in the majors.

Ramirez's ninth homer at Great American tied him with four others for
most by an opponent there. He had four homers in the four-game series.

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